Seed News

Syngenta's Agrisure Viptera 311 Seed Nearly Gone (MidSouthFarmer.com)

(Apr 18, 2011/MidSouth Farmer) -- Syngenta Seeds is rapidly approaching a sold-out position for its Agrisure Viptera 3111 corn seed in its first full year on the market.

Grant Ozipko, trait marketing manager for Syngenta, commented, "The exciting piece about this is the demand is coming from both new and existing customers."

The excitement over the first-year release, Ozipko says, comes from the first vegetative insecticidal protein in corn.

"It's a new level of insect control and that's what people are really excited about," Ozipko says. In 2010, Syngenta Seeds invited more than 7,000 farmers to view tests across the country, including the AgriCenter International in Memphis, to see what amounted to a 4.5 bushel yield advantage across all pest pressures and environments vs. standard triple stack hybrids.

"We've had this product in trials for the last three years," Ozipko says. "The increase in yield is an indication that Agrisure Viptera 3111 is also preventing some of the damage that can happen at below-threshold levels."

Many regard the new trait stack as the first step in comprehensive scouting program against a broad range of 14 above- and below-ground insects.

The Agrisure Viptera trait will be the platform of the Syngenta refuge reduction strategy that is being introduced over the next few years. In addition, Agrisure Artesian, the industry's first water-optimized corn technology, will be released in 2011.

In 2012, a non-rootworm reduced refuge stack will be released and a next-generation rootworm event is anticipated in 2014.